


Self-Reclaiming

by GalekhXigisi



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Rape Recovery, Self-Indulgent, Trans Bow (She-Ra), Trans Kyle (She-Ra), Trans Male Character, it's mentioned - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:42:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24387649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalekhXigisi/pseuds/GalekhXigisi
Summary: On a particularly rough night, Catra finds that Bow has a bit more knowledge than she previously suspected.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow & Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 154





	Self-Reclaiming

She can still feel the hands against her skin, trailing along her hips. 

_ Purification, _ it had been called as he had his way with her, turning her into a mindless zombie. She hadn’t been anything more than a toy, something that made her stomach knot and toes curl in anger. 

Catra wants to scream, a hand pulling at short tufts of hair. She’s cut it three different times now, snipping it off and snagging it on her claws. It’s just barely long enough to pull now. 

She paces around the room. It’s been almost two months since everything had gone down, two months since she had kissed Adora for the first time, two months since her life was forcibly stripped from her own and turned into something else. And it’s so incredibly frustrating. She still wants to scream. 

There are so many frustrating emotions. She wants to pull her hair right out of her scalp, though she knew better than to do that. It wouldn’t help her out any, no matter how many times she’s already tried to do so. And there’s the constant urge to just scream and beat the shit out of whatever the Hell is closest, even if it’s anything metal or a fucking brick wall. She’s aware she’s been angry before, especially within the past few years, but the anger she feels over this sometimes is… it’s unparalleled. Hell, sometimes, she can’t even touch her girlfriend without wanting to tear off her own skin. 

Adora’s tried to help as best she can. She’ll back off, give Catra her space, try to make everything as easy going and the least stimulating she can. She understands when Catra suddenly can’t handle touch, but her looks of pity and sympathy make Catra want to wreck Horde Prime’s shit. Adora just wants to help however in the Hell she can, which is rather comforting, yes, but it doesn’t always help. 

She  _ wants _ to kiss Adora! She wants nothing more than to be able to kiss her girlfriend and show her that she fucking loves her! 

But she can’t always do that. And, yes, that’s a bitch, but, surprisingly, her comfort from someone who she least expects it to. 

It’s Bow, who’s sitting in the kitchen’s version of the commons. It still manages to amaze Catra just how big Bright Moon is, but she’s come to find it as normal, something she can take comfort in. He sits at the table, staring down a cup of tea with an irritated look on his face, brows furrowed as he glares down the softly colored liquid, almost like it had personally wronged him. 

Catra immediately decides that she absolutely  _ hates _ that look on his face. 

He runs a hand through his hair, pulling at the strands. Only then does she notice the slightly butchered look, like it had been in a rush but had done so many times before that it would be hard to fuck up. She wonders vaguely if he had, a brow raising. 

“Did you cut your hair,” she asks softly, though it’s quickly apparent that he hadn’t even noticed she was there, jumping so suddenly that his tea comes flying with the jerking movement, splashing up on him. He lets out a string of curses and runs to wash it off. “Shit, Bow, I’m sorry,” she tells him, frowning. 

“You’re fine,” he quickly responds, though he doesn’t say anything else, focusing on pouring cold water over the burns now on his arms. 

She waits for him to settle, pouring the rest of his tea down the sink. She wonders why he would have even made tea in the first place if he was just going to pour it out, but doesn’t ask him. Instead, she asks, “What, uh, what was that all about? You’re not really all that…  _ jumpy _ most of the time, I guess.” 

Bow hums to her in acknowledgment. “It was just some stuff that happened when I was still in school.” 

“Oh,” Catra softly says, her brows slightly raising. “Adora said something about you going to school about books or something, but she said you stopped?” 

“Yeah,” he replies with a nod. 

“Why’d you do that? Don’t people want to get into a big school or whatever it was that you were in on?” 

He heaves out a sigh. She wonders if she struck a cord she shouldn’t have, but he continues on with, “Yeah, people normally do, but I had a lot of issues with my roommate when I was there, so I ended up just… Dropping out. I found Glimmer, though, so it worked out fine.” 

She let out a little noise. “What kind of problems with a roommate would make you just… drop out? You hate quitting.” She can’t think of anything that would prompt him to just give in. He always tried to see the best in people, tried to be as positive as he could and make as many friends as the world would allow. What in the Hell could have hurt him so bad? 

A hand comes up, settling on the back of Bow’s neck. “I was the only trans guy in the dorms, so that led to a lot of… teasing and stuff like it since people still aren’t entirely okay with it. For the most part, it was fine, though. And then it wasn’t. My roommate realized he could get away with a lot of things since I liked to try and give them the benefit of the doubt. I didn’t tell anyone about the teasing since it was going to happen, anyway, and he… really took advantage of that.” 

“So he was being transphobic,” she asks. Catra knew she was pretty known for being a dick, but never would she disrespect anyone for being trans. After years of living with Kyle, she knew far better than that. She wouldn’t have, anyway. 

He shakes his head, clearing his throat. “No, uh, not just that.” He dips his head a bit, look far more submissive than what Catra’s used to. She decides she hates it instantly. “He liked to, you know, touch me since I didn’t ever tell on anyone for anything like that. It only progressively got worse so I just…” He makes a vague motion with his arm and doesn’t elaborate. 

_ “Shit,” _ Catra curses, her brows furrowing. She hadn’t expected that. 

“I mean, it’s been a while since so I’m a lot better now.” He brings his hands up, making dismissive motions as he smiles like he hadn’t just dropped a bomb like that. I’m pretty much better now, nothing to be upset over.” 

“Of course, it’s something to be upset over!” Catra says, voice holding a lot more emotion than she wanted it to. 

Bow’s smile lightly drops like he’s been caught in a lie. “I guess that’s fair,” he mutters, rubbing at the side of his arm as he settles against the counter. “I’m doing all that self reclaiming stuff, though, so it’s not like it matters too much.” 

“What’s that,” she asks instantly, her head cocking to the side and ears lightly perking in interest. 

“Self reclaiming?” 

“Yeah.” 

“It’s basically just doing stuff that they took from you with the purpose of making it your own again.” He motions to his hair. “Cutting your hair is one of those things that’s pretty common to do.” 

“What’s something else?” She sits on one of the stools across from him, her tail slowly swinging in clear interest. She places her chin in her hands. 

“Things that they ruined, you just… do them. Like, I used to always sleep in a bed with a bunch of blankets and pillows and other stuff like that for comfort, but he used to call it a really girly thing to do so, for a while, I just stopped doing it altogether. I didn’t start doing it again until couple of weeks ago, honestly, and it’s because Glimmer said something about how Seahawk and Swift Wind both insist on having a lot of pillows and blankets when they sleep.” 

She nods along to his words, humming softly. 

“There are some things you can just jump into, like cutting your hair. But sleeping with the blankets and all that stuff, I’m slowly weening into it. And that’s okay.”

He seems to get her curiosity, continuing on with explaining the conflicting feelings that Catra felt herself. It was comforting, easily so. And she relaxes, smiling lightly. If she starts actively seeking out Bow more for comfort, no one says anything to her about it. 

**Author's Note:**

> Kyle, Bow, and Perfuma are trans, thanks
> 
> Here's my Discord server!  
> https://discord.gg/eGkwayy


End file.
